Hair curling device



7 A ril 2, 1957 R. MITCHELL 2,737,275

HAIR CURLING DEVICE Filed 001:. 6. 1955 INVENTOR.

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United States Patent HAIR CURLING DEVICE Rosalia Mitchell, Chicago, Ill.

Application October 6, 1955, Serial No. 538,856

3 Claims. Cl. 132-41 This invention relates to hair curling devices in general and more specifically to devices which may be used by afwoman desiring to give herself a permanent wave at home.

The object of the invention is to provide a hair curling device that may be easily used by the average woman with existing forms of so called cold-wave solutions to give her hair a permanent wave which will appear to have been accomplished by a professional hairdresser. One using the device will be able to produce curls that are soft and natural in appearance andthese results will be possiblewith little or no training or skill on the part of the user. However, the device may be also used to ad vantage by professional hairdressers.

In my copendiug patent application Serial No. 456,574, filed September 16, 1954, there is shown, described and claimed a hair curling device comprising a relatively long shaft-like portion which terminates in a relatively shorter and integrally formed split loop portion adjacent one end. A bendable wire is connected at the other end of said shaft-like portion. In using this curling device the hair is initially drawn through the split loop portion which is then located adjacent to the scalp so that the hair, when the hair is wound from the tips thereof inwardly to the scalp as is customary with conventional hair curling devices. While the wound hair is setting, it is held in place by means of the mentioned bendable wire which is wrapped thereover in the final act of the curling operation.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved hair curling device' which will obtain all of the advantages of the construction shown and claimed in the prior application but which can be more readily or easily and conveniently used. Thus, it is pro posed toreshape the hair receiving or loop portion so that it comprises a pair of resilient prongs which are so shaped that they curve outwardly from the shaft-like portion and thence inwardly toward .each other to define a relatively large opening therebetween having a restricted entrance and with said prongs-further having their free ends arranged in diverging relation to serve as means for guiding the hair to be curled through the entrance into said opening defined by the prongs. I

Another object of the invention is toprovide means which may be'eifectively used to prevent spreading of the prongs which would allow accidental withdrawing of the hair from the hair encircling portion through said entrance. Obviously if this should occur after the hair has been wound in place the desired curling effect might be destroyed or at least seriously affected. 7 Still another object of the invention is to providemeans i1 '1 fthe;.forih of a simple clamp whichfmay notonly be used "f'or 'this previously mentioned purpose but will also simultaneously function to hold the wound hair in place about the: shaft-like portion of the? hair curling device. According to the present invention such a clamp will preferably comprise a long and narrow bar like member pivotally secured to the end of the shaft-like portion opposite -to that carrying the hair receiving prongs, and having its Tess end defining a pair of resilient fingers which are intendedand are so located as to releasably engage about the prongs of the hair receiving portion to close the mentioned entrance into the opening defined therebetween. The intermediate portion of the long and narrow barlike member parallel the shaft-like portion of the device being caused to resiliently engage the hair wound about the shaft-like portion to hold the same in place.

In an alternative form of the invention a bendable wire is secured to one of the prongs so that it may be first wrapped about the two prongs and then about the hair on the shaft-like portion of the curling device.

Many advantages as well as other objects of the invention will become clear from the description thereof which follows when taken with the drawing in which:

Figure l diagrammatically shows the curling device constituting the invention in association with a human head and illustrating the manner in which the hair is intended to be wound about the device;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the hair fully wound upon the device and secured in place;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the hair curling device with the clamp member in open extended position;

Figure 4 is a side view of the device as shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a side view of the device with the clamp member pivoted to closed position;

Figure 6 is an end view of the device partly in section taken along lines 6-6 and looking in the direction indi cated by the arrows;

Figure 7 is a top plan view of the device in a modified form; and

Figure 8 is a side view of the device shown in Figure 7.

Referring first to Figures 3 through 6, it will be seen that the hair curling device constituting the present invention embodies a hair receiving portion generally indicated by reference numeral 10 which is formed at one end of a relatively longer shaft-like portion ll of circular cross-section and to the opposite end of which'is pivotally connected clamp member 12 having clamping means 13 at its free end which are intended to resiliently grip the hair receiving portion 10. The two members oonstituting the device may each be formed by injection molding technique from a variety of inexpensive and readily available plastic materials. The hair receiving portion 10 comprises a pair of prongs l4 and 15 of relatively thin crosssection so as to have a degree of resiliency and are each so shaped as to have a portion 14a and 15a, respectively, which curves outwardly from shaft 11 and an inwardly turning portion 14b and 15b, respectively, which together define a rather large opening 16 having a narrower entrance l7 communicating therewith. These prongs 14 and 15 terminate in divergingly related free ends and 15c, respectively, through which the air to be curled. may be initially guided through the entrance 17 into opening 16 formed by said curving portion 14a, 14b and 15mm 1512 of the prongs Hair encircling portion 10 is substantially shorter than the shaft-like portion 11 since the opening 16 it defines need be only sufficiently large to receive the lock of hair to be curled. The length of shaft 11 will be determined by the length of hair to be curled and is preferably several times the length of the hair receiving portion 10 so that it may accommodate long as well as short hair. The other end of shaft 11 has an apertured car 18 which is aligned with apertures in cars 19 and 2,0 of clamp-member 12 to receive pintle 21 for pivotally connecting clamp member 12 to shaft 11. The angularly turned free end of clamp member 12 is recessed as at 22. to form a pair of spaced depending fingers 23 and 24 which constitute the clamping means 13 previously referred to. Preferably, fingers 23 and 24 are divergingly related as shown best in Figure .6 and their outer ends spaced -sufficiently wide apart to permit them to be conveniently disposed over the narrowed portion 25 of the two prongs constituting the hair encircling portion 10. Spacing 22 is, however, sufficiently narrower at its inner end that said fingers 23 and 24 as they are slipped over the portion 25 of the prongs 14 and '15 will resiliently force them together to close or prohibit widening of entrance 17 and so prevent accidental withdrawing of hair from opening 16 through said entrance 17 when the device is in use. The resilient action of the depending fingers 23 and 24 in gripping the prongs may be increased by means of a slot 26, if desired. It will be understood that ears 19 and 21) of clamp mem ber 12 as well as the angled portion 13 thereof are so dimensioned that the longitudinal portion of the clamp member 13 paralleling shaft 11 will resiliently engage the hair coiled about said shaft 11 when the depending fingers 23 and 24 are in gripping relation with the narrowed portion 25 of the prongs 14 and as described above. This resilient action may be enhanced by slightly bowing the longitudinal portion of clamp member 13 in an inward direction as indicated in Figure 5, if desired.

Figures 7 and 8 show a modification of the hair curling device wherein the clamp member 12 is replaced by a bendable wire 127. This bendable wire 127 may be secured to either prong 114 or 115 although in the m'odification shown it is attached to prong 114. It is contemplated that the bendable wire 127 will be sufficiently long that it may be wound about the narrowed portion 125 of the two prongs to close entrance 117 into opening 116 between the prongs and thereafter to be wound about shaft 111 to hold the wound hair in place. In other respects the hair curling device shown in Figures 7 and 8 is substantially like that shown in Figures 1 through 6. Although it might not be as desirable, bendable wire 127 could be secured to the opposite end of the shaft-like portion 111 as at 128 and in this instance would be wound about the shaft 111 prior to its being wound about narrowed portion 125.

As indicated in Figure l a group of hairs is first segregated into a lock and wet with the cold wave solution. Then while holding shaft 11 of the curling device in one hand and the lock of hair in the other, the free ends 140 and 150 of the two prongs are positioned adiacent the lock of hair and the device simply pushed toward the lock of hair so that its prongs 14 and 15 separate sufficiently at 17 to allow the lock to pass through into the opening 16. The hair encircling portion 16 is then moved up close to the scalp and the hair wound about shaft 11 beginning adjacent the hair encircling portion 14) as indicated in Figure 1. During this operation the hair is preferably not twisted around its own axis but should be wound in a fiat manner around the shaft-like portion 11 in order to produce a more natural and beautiful curl. When the hair has been completely wound about the shaft 11 the clamp member 12 is pivoted to snap depending fingers 23 and 24 into position about the narrowed portion 25 of the hair receiving portion 10 as indicated in Figure 2 to close the entrance into opening 16 and at the same time to hold clamp member 12 in a locked relation with shaft 11 whereby the hair will be retained in the desired wound relation therewith as it sets. If desired, further cold-wave solution may be added to the hair at one or more stages in, or at the end of, the curling operation. As clearly brought out in Figure 2, the device, with the hair curled about shaft 11, will lie close to the individuals head and will not stick out therefrom at an ugly undesired angle. However when desired, as for example during the act of curling or as .a means of inspecting the scalp while the hair is setting, the device may be pivoted near the base or roots of the hair to a position as for example shown by the dotted lines in Figure 2. Following the method disclosed, it has been found that a much more pleasing and natural curl results and the device constituting the present invention makes the curling operation simple and convenient to perform all around the head.

With the device shown in Figures 7 and 8 substantially the same operations are followed except that instead of bringing clamp member 12 over the hair and snapping fingers 23 and 24 about the narrowed portion 25 of the hair receiving portion 10, as in the preferred form according to Figures 3 through 6, the bendable wire 127 is wound about the narrowed portion 125 of the prongs 114 and 115 and then over the hair coiled about the shaft 111.

It is of course understood that, if the user so desires, the hair need not first be inserted between the prongs but only wrapped or coiled about the shaft of the curling device. Moreover, according to the dictates of a user the hair curling device as herein before described might be used according to a curling technique in which the curling is commenced at the tips of the hair and shaft 11 or 111 rolled on the hair inwardly to the scalp. The previously described method of curling hair is, however, nevertheless to be preferred for the reasons advanced above.

Thus having described my invention it would appear that all of the objects thereof have been obtained in a' simple convenient and practical manner. It is however further to be understood that the foregoing description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but merely as i1- lustrative of how the invention may be carried out.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A hair curling device comprising a relatively long shaft-like member of circular cross sectional shape about which hair is to be wound and terminating in a hair receiving portion, said hair receiving portion comprising a pair of resilient prongs which are curved outwardly from and thence inwardly toward each other to define an opening therebetween having a restricted entrance, said prongs terminating in divergingly related free ends between which the hair to be curled may be guided as it is drawn through the entrance and into said opening between the prongs, together with means for securing in place hair that has been wound on said shaft-like member, said means embodying a long and narrow member having one end pivotally connected to the end of said shaft-like member opposite that having the resilient prongs, the free end of said long and narrow member being angled therefrom and comprising a pair of resilient fingers for engaging about the prongs in the area thereof defining the entrance into the opening between said prongs.

2. A hair curling device according to claim 1 wherein the portion of the long and narrow member extends longitudinally of the shaft-like member in spaced relation thereto and is slightly bowed to resiliently engage and hold in place hair when coiled about said shaft-like member.

3. A hair curling device comprising a shaft-like member having one end terminating in a pair of resilient prongs shaped to provide an opening therebetween into which hair may be drawn between the free ends of the said prongs, together with a clamp member having one end pivotally connected to the other end of said shaftlike member and having its free end formed as a pair of depending resilient fingers adapted to releasably grip said resilient prongs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,064,084 Ozmun June 10, 1913 2,043,553 Pado June 9, 1936 2,140,583 Jacobs Dec. 20, 1938 2,140,857 Smith Dec. 20, 1938 2,179,525 Solomon Nov. 14, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,481 Great Britain Feb. 10, 19:14 526,937 Great Britain ..s Sept. 27, 1.940 513,213 Oanada May 24, 19:55 

